Hardware Discussion Thread

Sarz91

marko93 wrote: »

Quick question, what would be a good USB WiFi dongle? Sadly, ethernet cable is less than ideal

Maybe you've thought of it already but could you not use a powerline? Something like this.

marko93

Thanks Sarz, never even knew of this. Looks excellent, think it'll be a good choice. Is it as simple as plug the ethernet cable in and have one beside the router then have one upstairs?

Sarz91

marko93 wrote: »

Thanks Sarz, never even knew of this. Looks excellent, think it'll be a good choice. Is it as simple as plug the ethernet cable in and have one beside the router then have one upstairs?

Oh you've your modem downstairs? I've heard people say that to use a powerline effectively they've to be on the same circuit or ring. Then again I've heard people say the exact opposite. To answer your question you plug one into a socket near your modem/router. Use an ethernet cable from one of the modem/router ethernet ports and plug it into the bottom of the powerline. You then plug the other powerline in beside the object you want to connect to the internet and just join them using an ethernet cable.

I'm getting 6.19Mbps and 90ms of ping connected directly to my modem/router and using the powerlines I'm getting 6.10Mbps and 91ms of ping in a room that's about 20 feet away.

marko93

Sarz91 wrote: »

Oh you've your modem downstairs? I've heard people say that to use a powerline effectively they've to be on the same circuit or ring. Then again I've heard people say the exact opposite. To answer your question you plug one into a socket near your modem/router. Use an ethernet cable from one of the modem/router ethernet ports and plug it into the bottom of the powerline. You then plug the other powerline in beside the object you want to connect to the internet and just join them using an ethernet cable.

I'm getting 6.19Mbps and 90ms of ping connected directly to my modem/router and using the powerlines I'm getting 6.10Mbps and 91ms of ping in a room that's about 20 feet away.

Hmmmm, wonder will the results be the same or similar if I've to use it upstairs!

Sarz91

marko93 wrote: »

Hmmmm, wonder will the results be the same or similar if I've to use it upstairs!

Give us two minutes and I'll bring the laptop downstairs with one of the powerlines.

marko93

Sarz91 wrote: »

Give us two minutes and I'll bring the laptop downstairs with one of the powerlines.

That'd be much appreciated! Cheers!

Sarz91

marko93 wrote: »

That'd be much appreciated! Cheers!

Ok I ran four speed test and got an average of about 6.05 Mbps and 99ms of ping. Which is just slightly slower than what I get on the same level as the modem/router. Don't assume it'll work 100% the same in your house though but it seems to be decent enough. My modem is upstairs. I used the laptop with the powerline in the garage downstairs. The garage has only reccently gotten sockets put in so it'd be safe to assume they aren't on the same ring as the one that the modem is plugged into.

marko93

Well I appreciate the help!


Might just give it a punt and hope it works out! Cheers

Sarz91

marko93 wrote: »

Well I appreciate the help!


Might just give it a punt and hope it works out! Cheers

No problem. Let us know if it works either way.

Rebel Rebel

I was thinking about getting those, but would have to use them with a socket adapter, is there much of a drop off in performance if not plugged directly into the wall?

Sarz91

Rebel Rebel wrote: »

I was thinking about getting those, but would have to use them with a socket adapter, is there much of a drop off in performance if not plugged directly into the wall?

Now again this is my own experience but I've found little to no difference in using an extension lead. However, it may be worth noting that the powerline at my modem is using an extension lead and not the one hooked up to my pc. I don't know if that makes a difference.

marco_polo

Rebel Rebel wrote: »

I was thinking about getting those, but would have to use them with a socket adapter, is there much of a drop off in performance if not plugged directly into the wall?

Should be ok, they can't work on surge protected extension leads, but depending on what else is plugged into the adapter excessive electrial noise could possibly degrade performance.

You can also get models with ac passthrough as well if you can't afford to lose a socket, alhough i'm not actually sure if it they would perform better than a regular homeplug connected to an adapter.

Rebel Rebel

Thanks for the reply lads

farna_boy

If you are thinking of getting one of the Powerline ethernet adapters, you could buy one in Argos first to see if it works. They have (as far as I know) a 30 day money back guarantee, no questions asked, so if it works you can take it back and get it cheaper elsewhere. If it doesn't work, you have lost nothing.

N64

Amazon also have a fantastic, no questions asked returns policy.

I have the same set exactly and they work fine. As marco_polo pointed out, other electrical devices can degrade performance (in my case it was a cheapo laptop charger off ebay with no shielding - it was probably against FCC regs ) but funnily enough, I have had nothing else cause interference with it.

They actually have a very decent range. I was getting full speeds from the other side of my house downstairs (which has terrible old wiring, I might add!)

Different powerstrips have different internal designs, different levels of shielding inside (some of them have long unshielded copper strips instead of shielded cabling), filters, surge protection etc.

In the worst case scenario they will basically prevent any signal at all; in other cases they make no difference.

Homeplugs always have utilities that show signal strength so the easiest way to find out is just to try it with/without the powerstrip.

There are models with AC passthrough and these always have a mains filter to reduce interference from connected devices. So if you're short on sockets one of these may be a better option.

NTMK

Tom has finally done a titan review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8PM4gsMD9A

its only an hour and a 20 mins :pac:

Squeaky the Squirrel

Triple monitor madness: GTX Titan, GTX 680, and Radeon 7970 go head-to-head at 5760×1080

Sarz91

Just got this card. I've heard they're massive. Will I need to get some sort of support bracket with it?

Eboggles

Sarz91 wrote: »

Just got this card. I've heard they're massive. Will I need to get some sort of support bracket with it?

It's got a strong backplate, and the card itself is very rigid so it should support itself as opposed to sagging.

By the way, the version you're going to receive isn't the one in the photo, it's this one:


As you can see, it's a good bit shorter so hopefully it won't sag. Also, this cooler makes much better contact with the GPU than the last one so temps are better.

Sarz91

Eboggles wrote: »

It's got a strong backplate, and the card itself is very rigid so it should support itself as opposed to sagging.

As you can see, it's a good bit shorter so hopefully it won't sag. Also, this cooler makes much better contact with the GPU than the last one so temps are better.

Ah ok cool. I'll send you that Crysis 3 key when it comes in. (If I get it.) Should be here Wednesday.

marco_polo

Sarz91 wrote: »

Just got this card. I've heard they're massive. Will I need to get some sort of support bracket with it?

Don't think so, I read before there were some problem in initial versions with the heatsink slightly loosing contact with the GPU, but AFAIK ASUS have completely sorted all that out now.

Eboggles

Sarz91 wrote: »

Ah ok cool. I'll send you that Crysis 3 key when it comes in. (If I get it.) Should be here Wednesday.

Cool, thanks!

marco_polo

AMD launching a HD 7790 next month. There probably is enough room between the HD7770 and Hd7850 to justify it in fairness.

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/29014/leaked-details-on-amd-s-upcoming-radeon-hd-7790-bonaire-gpu-appear/index.html

Unregistered.

Lads, I'm out of the loop with hard disks. I need a new one for storage, the last time I bought one was in 2009 - a Samsung Spinpoint F3. One of the best at the time. I know since then that hard disk prices went through the roof and have appeared to come back down now.

Any recommendations on what drive to get? Either 1TB or 2TB.

Fluffy88

If it's just for storage a WD Caviar Green would be perfect.

Item|Price
WD Caviar Green 1TB, SATA 6Gb/s (WD10EZRX)|€58.47
WD Caviar Green 2TB, SATA 6Gb/s|€82.71
WD Caviar Green 3TB, SATA 6Gb/s|€117.59
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€277.76

Make sure it's a EZRX model not EARX, they are basically the same price but the EZRX is a slightly better model. It's slightly quieter and draws less power.

If you would rather a faster drive the WD Red drives are good and have longer warranties.

M00lers

Similar request to above. Building a PC for a friend and I want to keep HDDs to a minimum. I was thinking a of getting a 1TB for gaming and another for storage but I'm now think of running with just 1 x 2TB.

Are there any 2TB HDDs suitable for gaming that are also quiet-ish?

Serephucus

Go with an SSD and a 1TB HDD, or something similar. You want an SSD in there. A whatever-capacity 840 Pro (or Crucial M4 if you want to cut costs a bit) and a 1/2TB WD Green would do nicely.

M00lers

Serephucus wrote: »

Go with an SSD and a 1TB HDD, or something similar. You want an SSD in there. A whatever-capacity 840 Pro (or Crucial M4 if you want to cut costs a bit) and a 1/2TB WD Green would do nicely.

Yeah, I'm sticking a 120GB in there for the OS and select games, the 2TB will be for other games and media.

Any suggestions for a 2TB thats good for gaming but not too noisy?

Eboggles

Has anyone seen this?

Sapphire HD7790 Dual-X OC pictured and tested.